Following a swearing-in ceremony for reelected Newberry City Commissioners Rick Coleman, Mark Clark and Monty Farnsworth on Monday, the commission unanimously approved a new roundabout in partnership with Alachua County and a composting facility, but was divided over changing the land use for the Newberry Ridge housing development. 

The trio of incumbents was reelected for two-year terms during the April 14 election, which Mayor Tim Marden said indicated the city is doing what the citizens believe in and the direction they want to go.  

The commission voted Farnsworth as chair pro tempore to facilitate meetings if the mayor is absent, and Commissioner Donald Long as the alternate pro tempore. Farnsworth and Clark will retire after this term. 

The commission voted 3-2 during Monday’s regular meeting to amend the Newberry Ridge development’s land use from mixed to residential medium density. Instead of four to 20 dwelling units per acre, the change allows the development up to eight, for a total of 1,250 residential units on the property. 

City Manager Jordan Marlowe said Newberry Ridge has been an approved development for around 30 years. The new land use is a 2026 update to its plans. 

Dissenting Commissioners Coleman and Farnsworth both said they didn’t like the 225-acre development near Champions Park reaching eight dwelling units per acre, even though it’s within the urban service area. Coleman suggested a low-density zoning that would also allow four units per acre.  

Julie Kendig with the Greenberg Traurig law firm spoke on behalf of the applicant. She said Newberry Ridge previously had plans for a mixed-use town center project, but now wanted to be solely residential with a diversity of housing types appealing to homebuyers with median incomes. Currently, Newberry’s median income is $90,000 a year and the median home price is $325,000. 

Marden said more units at medium-density would allow the applicant to lower the housing prices with multi-family housing. The project would be built in phases over 10 years as opposed to the five originally proposed. 

“We’re trying to assist in the goal of planning today for a stronger tomorrow to keep the city vibrant for your future generations,” Kendig said. 

Commissioner Tony Mazon said he’s excited about the project and that it will be better for downtown.

“I appreciate you guys taking it from commercial to all residential. I can appreciate that because that brings more businesses downtown,” he said. “So I’m excited about it, I’m ready to move forward.”

Because Newberry Ridge’s land use change is for a site greater than 50 acres, the plans will go before the state for review. 

City and county roundabout partnership 

The commission unanimously voted to acquire land at the accident-prone intersection of County Road 235 and Newberry Lane behind the new Publix to construct a roundabout in partnership with Alachua County. 

Marlowe said Newberry has had a tremendous number of near-fatal accidents at the intersection that would only cause more people to perish if not addressed. 

He said an Alachua County-initiated traffic study found that the number of crashes at the intersection justified something more than a four-way stop, but not enough for a light. Newberry recently added its second stoplight and has a third on the way. 

As a compromise, the city and county will split the $1.5 million price tag of a new two-lane roundabout that will also be large enough for logging and semi-trucks. Marlowe said $200,000 will come out of Newberry’s budget from last year and $550,000 will need to be accounted for in the upcoming budget. 

Newberry is responsible for acquiring the necessary land from the property owners—which Marlowe said all four corners have agreed to—while the county will cover the roundabout design and engineering.  

“That is a huge expense that they are shouldering,” he said. 

The county has an aggressive 10-week timeline for the project, Marlowe said, with construction scheduled to start the day after school ends. Crews aim to finish before school begins, which he said will help navigate detours and traffic as the state also works on new two-way pairs in Newberry. 

Marlowe said the project defied past city and county collaboration failures and that he hoped for more. 

“This is the first time that Newberry has successfully negotiated a road improvement with the county,” he said. “It’s the first of many, right? It’s a brand new day. We’re going to have nothing but partnerships moving on.” 

New Life Soils composting facility 

Newberry is expecting to save over $100,000 annually on biosolid material removal from its wastewater treatment plant after the City Commission approved a new composting facility at the city’s Environmental Park. 

According to the lease agreement entered into two years ago, Life Soils LLC will operate the facility in exchange for 15 acres at the park.  

The company uses an inoculant called Harvest Quest to reverse the physics of composting. Harvest Quest eliminates the turning and flipping of materials required for composting by introducing a biological package to create COMAND, an active and organic soil amendment. Representatives from Life Soils at the meeting said their process is odorless, water conserving and wouldn’t leak into the Floridan Aquifer. 

Newberry Community Development Director Stacey Hectus said the partnership also benefits the city following new legislation that is more restrictive on the requirements for handling biosolids. The Planning and Zoning Board unanimously approved a site plan for the facility in April.  

Marden said Life Soils would be thanking the community with free COMAND to try on their own plant beds and yards. 

“This partnership has a true, real-life, ongoing financial impact to operations of the wastewater treatment plant,” Marlowe said.